Challenger: Shuttle Disaster That Changed NASA Challenger: Shuttle Disaster That Changed NASA By Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor | October 16, 2012 01:21pm ET MORE The space shuttle Challenger was one of NASA's greatest triumphs. It was the second shuttle to reach space, in April 1983. It successfully completed nine milestone missions. But Challenger was also NASA's darkest tragedy. On its 10th launch, on Jan. 28, 1986, the shuttle exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing the seven crewmembers. The accident changed the space program forever. This full view of Challenger in space was taken by a satellite. A heavily cloud-covered portion of the Earth forms the backdrop for this scene of Challenger in orbit. This image was taken during Challenger's STS-7 mission, which launched on June 18, 1983. Credit: NASA From test vehicle to space vehicle NASA originally intended Challenger to be a test vehicle. Rockwell began building the shuttle in November 1975 and then sent it to Lockheed for structural testing starting on April 2, 1978.

According to NASA, computer models at the time were not sophisticated enough to calculate the stresses on the shuttle during different phases of flight. The shuttle, then known as STA-099, went through 11 months of vibration testing in a specially formulated rig. This custom-designed machine could bring the shuttle through a simulation of all phases of flight, from liftoff to landing. Three hydraulic cylinders, each with one million pounds of force, were used as substitute space shuttle main engines. In 1979, NASA awarded Rockwell a supplemental contract to convert the test vehicle to a spacecraft. This would expand the shuttle fleet to two spacecraft, the first one being Columbia . It took two more years for Rockwell to perform the conversion. Among other things, workers had to strengthen the wings, put in a real crew cabin instead of a simulated one, and install heads-up displays for the astronauts working inside. Work completed on Oct. 23, 1981. Delays for the first flight Challenger was expected to go into space on Jan. 20, 1983, to release the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite , which later became part of a series of satellites that astronauts used to stay in touch with controllers back home.

Several technical malfunctions pushed the launch back, though. First, NASA discovered a hydrogen leak in the No. 1 main engine aft compartment during a flight readiness test in December. In a second test on Jan. 25, 1983, NASA discovered cracks in the engine that were causing the leak. The agency then took several months to remove the engines and test them. While engines two and three were deemed healthy, NASA replaced Engine No. 1. A view of the shuttle Challenger's maiden STS-6 launch on April 4, 1983. In this view, Challenger is just clearing the launch pad in a cloud of smoke. Credit: NASA After another delay due to a problem with TDRS, Challenger launched successfully on April 4, 1983, on mission STS-6. Crew members set the satellite free; astronauts Story Musgrave and Donald Peterson also did the first spacewalk of the shuttle program. Cultural and technical firsts Besides the milestones in space technology, Challenger also was the vehicle by which several cultural firsts happened in the space shuttle program. The first American female astronaut, Sally Ride , rode up on Challenger on STS-7 in June 1983.

The first African-American , Guion Bluford, reached space on STS-8. On STS-41G in 1984, two women — Ride and Kathryn Sullivan — flew on one mission for the first time – as well as the first Canadian, Marc Garneau. Other milestones Challenger marked included the first night launch and landing (STS-8) and the first operational Spacelab flight (STS-51B). Spacelab was a European space laboratory that fit into a shuttle's cargo bay and included several experiments designed for tests in microgravity. It flew on Columbia on STS-9 for the first time, but Challenger's mission is considered the first working one. The flying repairman Some of Challenger's most memorable moments took place in April 1984, on STS-41C. That mission featured the very first astronaut repair of a satellite. To get at the nonfunctional Solar Maximum Mission satellite, astronaut George Nelson strapped himself into the Manned Maneuvering Unit , which was a jet-powered backpack designed for astronauts to fly in space. It had only been tested on one mission before this one.

Challenger moved in space until it was only 200 feet from the satellite. Then, Nelson carefully left the safety of the shuttle and flew over to the satellite. A "fixture" on the front of his backpack let Nelson dock with the satellite, which was slowly tumbling in space. Next, he fired the jets on his backpack to stop the satellite's spin. Crew members on Challenger then maneuvered the space shuttle close to the satellite, reached out with the Canadarm robotic arm, and plucked the satellite out of empty space and into the payload bay. Nelson and crewmate James "Ox" Van Hoften repaired the satellite together, then the crew lofted the satellite back into space. SMM continued functioning for several years, then burned up in the atmosphere in December 1989. Challenger disaster It was a cold morning on Jan. 28, 1986, when Challenger was supposed to fly into space. Temperatures dipped below freezing. There were certain people at NASA and among contractors that worried about the integrity of the seals on the solid rocket boosters in cold weather.

At 78 seconds after liftoff, this image shows Challenger's left wing, main engines (still burning residual propellant) and the forward fuselage (crew cabin). Credit: NASA Challenger launched at 11:38 a.m. Eastern time in front of more media attention than usual, as it was carrying the first teacher to go in space. Christa McAuliffe was planning to give lessons while in orbit. She and the rest of the crew never made it. Challenger broke up 73 seconds after launch in front of the television cameras. "Flight controllers here are looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction," the NASA launch commentator said as pieces of the shuttle fell from the sky into the Atlantic. Salvage crews spent several weeks recovering pieces of the shuttle and carefully, bringing up the remains of the seven astronauts. Remains that could be identified were turned over to the families, while the rest were buried in a monument to the Challenger crew at Arlington Cemetery on May 20, 1986. Cultural and technical problems A presidential commission was convened to look into the incident, chaired by former attorney general and secretary of state William P. Rogers.

It included participation from Neil Armstrong (the first man on the moon) and NASA astronaut Sally Ride, among others. The commission talked about the technical causes of the accident , which was traced to cold weather degrading the seal on the boosters. Additionally, it brought to light cultural problems at NASA, such as failing to voice all problems to the launch decision team. The commission also said that the shuttle's proposed flight rate was unsustainable given the size of its workforce. NASA made technical changes to the shuttle and also worked to change the culture of its workforce in the wake of what happened with Challenger. The shuttle program resumed flights in 1988. After the Challenger wreckage was examined, the pieces were buried and sealed in abandoned Minuteman missile silos at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where they remain today. Challenger's explosion changed the space shuttle program in several ways. Plans to fly other civilians in space (such as journalists) were shelved for 22 years, until Barbara Morgan , who was McAuliffe's backup, flew aboard Endeavour in 2007. Satellite launches were shifted from the shuttle to reusable rockets.

Additionally, astronauts were pulled off of duties such as repairing satellites, and the Manned Maneuvering Unit was not flown again, to better preserve their safety. Every January, NASA pauses to remember the last crew of Challenger, and the other crews lost in pursuing space, on a NASA Day of Remembrance . Additionally, Challenger has an educational legacy: members of the crews' families founded the Challenger Center for Space Science Education program, which brings students on simulated space missions. On Jan. 28, 1986, NASA faced its first shuttle disaster, the loss of the Challenger orbiter and its seven-astronaut crew. Here, Challenger's last crew – members of the STS-51L mission – stand in the White Room at Pad 39B following the end of a launch dress rehearsal. They are (L to R) Teacher in Space Participant, Sharon "Christa" McAuliffe, Payload Specialist, Gregory Jarvis, Mission Specialist, Judy Resnik, Commander Dick Scobee. Mission Specialist, Ronald McNair, Pilot, Michael Smith and Mission Specialist, Ellison Onizuka.

Credit: NASA Challenger Disaster - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Google Background In 1976, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveiled the world’s first reusable manned spacecraft, known as the space shuttle. Five years later, shuttle flights began when Columbia traveled into space on a 54-hour mission. Launched by two solid-rocket boosters and an external tank, the aircraft-like shuttle entered into orbit around Earth. When the mission was completed, the shuttle fired engines to reduce speed and, after descending through the atmosphere, landed like a glider. Early shuttles took satellite equipment into space and carried out various scientific experiments. Did You Know? After "Teacher in Space" Christa McAuliffe was killed during the 1986 Challenger disaster, her backup, a former math teacher named Barbara Morgan, served as a mission specialist during a 2007 flight of the shuttle Endeavor. Challenger, NASA’s second space shuttle to enter service, embarked on its maiden voyage on April 4, 1983, and made a total of nine voyages prior to 1986.

That year, it was scheduled to launch on January 22 carrying a seven-member crew that included Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old high school social studies instructor from New Hampshire who had earned a spot on the mission through NASA’s Teacher in Space Program. After undergoing months of training, she was set to become the first ordinary American citizen to travel into space. Challenger’s Catastrophic Launch The mission’s launch from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida , was delayed for six days due to weather and technical problems. The morning of January 28 was unusually cold, and engineers warned their superiors that certain components—particularly the rubber O-rings that sealed the joints of the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters—were vulnerable to failure at low temperatures. However, these warnings went unheeded, and at 11:39 a.m. Challenger lifted off. Seventy-three seconds later, hundreds on the ground, including the families of McAuliffe and the other astronauts on board, stared in disbelief as the shuttle broke up in a forking plume of smoke and fire. Millions more watched the wrenching tragedy unfold on live television.

Within instants, the spacecraft broke apart and plunged into the ocean, killing its entire crew, traumatizing the nation and throwing NASA’s shuttle program into turmoil. Investigation by the Rogers Commission Shortly after the disaster, President Ronald Reagan appointed a special commission to determine what went wrong with Challenger and to develop future corrective measures. Headed by former secretary of state William Rogers, the commission included former astronaut Neil Armstrong and former test pilot Chuck Yeager. Their investigation revealed that the O-ring seal on Challenger’s solid rocket booster, which had become brittle in the cold temperatures, failed. Flames then broke out of the booster and damaged the external fuel tank, causing the spacecraft to disintegrate. The commission also found that Morton Thiokol, the company that designed the solid rocket boosters, had ignored warnings about potential issues. NASA managers were aware of these design problems but also failed to take action. Famously, scientist Richard Feynman, a member of the commission, demonstrated the O-ring flaw to the public using a simple glass of ice water. Aftermath of the Challenger Disaster After the accident, NASA refrained from sending astronauts into space for more than two years as it redesigned a number of the shuttle’s features.

Flights began again in September 1988 with the successful launching of Discovery. Since then, the space shuttle has carried out numerous important missions, including the repair and maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope and the construction of the International Space Station. On February 1, 2003, a second space shuttle disaster rocked the United States when Columbia disintegrated upon reentry, killing all aboard. While missions resumed in July 2005, the space shuttle is slated for retirement in 2011. Ten years after the Challenger tragedy, two large pieces from the spacecraft washed ashore on a Florida beach. The remaining debris is now stored in a missile silo at Cape Canaveral. Tags BBC ON THIS DAY | 28 | 1986: Seven dead in space shuttle disaster 1986: Seven dead in space shuttle disaster The American space shuttle, Challenger, has exploded killing all seven astronauts on board. The five men and two women - including the first teacher in space - were just over a minute into their flight from Cape Canaveral in Florida when the Challenger blew up.

The astronauts' families, at the airbase, and millions of Americans witnessed the world's worst space disaster live on TV. The danger from falling debris prevented rescue boats reaching the scene for more than an hour. In 25 years of space exploration seven people have died - today that total has been doubled. President Ronald Reagan has described the tragedy as "a national loss". The Challenger's flight, the 25th by a shuttle, had already been delayed because of bad weather. High winds, then icicles caused the launch to be postponed from 22 January. But Nasa officials insist safety remains their top priority and there was no pressure to launch the shuttle today. The shuttle crew was led by Commander Dick Scobee, 46. Christa McAuliffe, 37, married with two children, was to be the first school teacher in space - picked from among 10,000 entries for a competition.

Speaking before the launch, she said: "One of the things I hope to bring back into the classroom is to make that connection with the students that they too are part of history, the space programme belongs to them and to try to bring them up with the space age." President Reagan has put off his state of the union address. He was meeting senior aides in the Oval Office when he learned of the disaster. We will never forget them US President Ronald Reagan He has called for an immediate inquiry into the disaster but he said the space programme would go on - in honour to the dead astronauts. Vice-President George Bush has been sent to Cape Canaveral to visit the victims' families. This evening, the president went on national television to pay tribute to the courage and bravery of the seven astronauts.

He said: "We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God." 7 myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster - Technology & science - Space | NBC News 7 myths about the Challenger shuttle disaster It didn't explode, the crew didn't die instantly and it wasn't inevitable Below: Advertise AFP - Getty Images file These sequential photos show a fiery plume escaping from the right solid rocket booster as the space shuttle Challenger ascends to the sky on Jan. 28, 1986. By James Oberg NBC News space analyst Special to MSNBC + - HOUSTON — Twenty-five years ago, millions of television viewers were horrified to witness the live broadcast of the space shuttle Challenger exploding 73 seconds into flight, ending the lives of the seven astronauts on board. And they were equally horrified to learn in the aftermath of the disaster that the faulty design had been chosen by NASA to satisfy powerful politicians who had demanded the mission be launched, even under unsafe conditions. Meanwhile, a major factor in the disaster was that NASA had been ordered to use a weaker sealant for environmental reasons.

Finally, NASA consoled itself and the nation with the realization that all frontiers are dangerous and to a certain extent, such a disaster should be accepted as inevitable. At least, that seems to be how many people remember it, in whole or in part. That’s how the story of the Challenger is often retold, in oral tradition and broadcast news, in public speeches and in private conversations and all around the Internet. But spaceflight historians believe that each element of the opening paragraph is factually untrue or at best extremely dubious. They are myths, undeserving of popular belief and unworthy of being repeated at every anniversary of the disaster. The flight, and the lost crew members, deserve proper recognition and authentic commemoration. Historians, reporters, and every citizen need to take the time this week to remember what really happened, and especially to make sure their memories are as close as humanly possible to what really did happen. If that happens, here's the way the mission may be remembered: Few people actually saw the Challenger tragedy unfold live on television. The shuttle did not explode in the common definition of that word. The flight, and the astronauts’ lives, did not end at that point, 73 seconds after launch.

The design of the booster, while possessing flaws subject to improvement, was neither especially dangerous if operated properly, nor the result of political interference. Replacement of the original asbestos-bearing putty in the booster seals was unrelated to the failure. There were pressures on the flight schedule, but none of any recognizable political origin. Claims that the disaster was the unavoidable price to be paid for pioneering a new frontier were self-serving rationalizations on the part of those responsible for incompetent engineering management — the disaster should have been avoidable. Myth #1: A nation watched as tragedy unfolded Few people actually saw what happened live on television. The flight occurred during the early years of cable news, and although CNN was indeed carrying the launch when the shuttle was destroyed, all major broadcast stations had cut away — only to quickly return with taped relays. With Christa McAuliffe set to be the first teacher in space, NASA had arranged a satellite broadcast of the full mission into television sets in many schools, but the general public did not have access to this unless they were one of the then-few people with satellite dishes. What most people recall as a "live broadcast" was actually the taped replay broadcast soon after the event.

Myth #2: Challenger exploded The shuttle did not explode in the common definition of that word. There was no shock wave, no detonation, no "bang" — viewers on the ground just heard the roar of the engines stop as the shuttle’s fuel tank tore apart, spilling liquid oxygen and hydrogen which formed a huge fireball at an altitude of 46,000 ft. (Some television documentaries later added the sound of an explosion to these images.) But both solid-fuel strap-on boosters climbed up out of the cloud, still firing and unharmed by any explosion. Challenger itself was torn apart as it was flung free of the other rocket components and turned broadside into the Mach 2 airstream. Individual propellant tanks were seen exploding — but by then, the spacecraft was already in pieces. Advertise Myth #3: The crew died instantly The flight, and the astronauts’ lives, did not end at that point, 73 seconds after launch. After Challenger was torn apart, the pieces continued upward from their own momentum, reaching a peak altitude of 65,000 feet before arching back down into the water.

The cabin hit the surface 2 minutes and 45 seconds after breakup, and all investigations indicate the crew was still alive until then. What's less clear is whether they were conscious. If the cabin depressurized (as seems likely), the crew would have had difficulty breathing. In the words of the final report by fellow astronauts, the crew “possibly but not certainly lost consciousness,” even though a few of the emergency air bottles (designed for escape from a smoking vehicle on the ground) had been activated. The cabin hit the water at a speed greater than 200 mph, resulting in a force of about 200 G’s — crushing the structure and destroying everything inside. If the crew did lose consciousness (and the cabin may have been sufficiently intact to hold enough air long enough to prevent this), it’s unknown if they would have regained it as the air thickened during the last seconds of the fall. Official NASA commemorations of “Challenger’s 73-second flight” subtly deflect attention from what was happened in the almost three minutes of flight (and life) remaining AFTER the breakup.

Myth #4: Dangerous booster flaws result of meddling The side-mounted booster rockets, which help propel the shuttle at launch then drop off during ascent, did possess flaws subject to improvement. But these flaws were neither especially dangerous if operated properly, nor the result of political interference. Each of the pair of solid-fuel boosters was made from four separate segments that bolted end-to-end-to-end together, and flame escaping from one of the interfaces was what destroyed the shuttle. Although the obvious solution of making the boosters of one long segment (instead of four short ones) was later suggested, long solid fuel boosters have problems with safe propellant loading, with transport, and with stacking for launch — and multi-segment solids had had a good track record with the Titan-3 military satellite program. The winning contractor was located in Utah, the home state of a powerful Republican senator, but the company also had the strengths the NASA selection board was looking for. The segment interface was tricky and engineers kept tweaking the design to respond to flight anomalies, but when operated within tested environmental conditions, the equipment had been performing adequately.

Myth #5: Environmental ban led to weaker sealant A favorite of the Internet, this myth states that a major factor in the disaster was that NASA had been ordered by regulatory agencies to abandon a working pressure sealant because it contained too much asbestos, and use a weaker replacement. But the replacement of the seal was unrelated to the disaster — and occurred prior to any environmental ban. Even the original putty had persistent sealing problems, and after it was replaced by another putty that also contained asbestos, the higher level of breaches was connected not to the putty itself, but to a new test procedure being used. “We discovered that it was this leak check which was a likely cause of the dangerous bubbles in the putty that I had heard about," wrote physicist Richard Feynman , a member of the Challenger investigation board. And the bubble effect was unconnected with the actual seal violation that would ultimately doom Challenger and its crew. The cause was an inadequate low-temperature performance of the O-ring seal itself, which had not been replaced. Myth #6: Political pressure forced the launch There were pressures on the flight schedule, but none of any recognizable political origin.

Launch officials clearly felt pressure to get the mission off after repeated delays, and they were embarrassed by repeated mockery on the television news of previous scrubs, but the driving factor in their minds seems to have been two shuttle-launched planetary probes. The first ever probes of this kind, they had an unmovable launch window just four months in the future. The persistent rumor that the White House had ordered the flight to proceed in order to spice up President Reagan’s scheduled State of the Union address seems based on political motivations, not any direct testimony or other first-hand evidence. Feynman personally checked out the rumor and never found any substantiation. If Challenger's flight had gone according to plan, the crew would have been asleep at the time of Reagan's speech, and no communications links had been set up. Myth #7: An unavoidable price for progress Claims that the disaster was the unavoidable price to be paid for pioneering a new frontier were self-serving rationalizations on the part of those responsible for incompetent engineering management — the disaster should have been avoidable. NASA managers made a bad call for the launch decision, and engineers who had qualms about the O-rings were bullied or bamboozled into acquiescence.

The skeptics’ argument that launching with record cold temperatures is valid, but it probably was not argued as persuasively as it might have been, in hindsight. If launched on a warmer day, with gentler high-altitude winds, there’s every reason to suppose the flight would have been successful and the troublesome seal design (which already had the attention of designers) would have been modified at a pace that turned out to have been far too leisurely. The disaster need never have happened if managers and workers had clung to known principles of safely operating on the edge of extreme hazards — nothing was learned by the disaster that hadn’t already been learned , and then forgotten. NBC News space analyst James Oberg spent 22 years at NASA's Johnson Space Center as a Mission Control operator and an orbital designer. © 2013 MSNBC Interactive. Reprints Related slideshows From joy to tragedy The shuttle Challenger's mission in 1986 was meant to mark a milestone in spaceflight: the first orbital voyage of an American teacher. NASA's choice for the honor was Christa McAuliffe, a social-studies teacher at Concord High School in New Hampshire.

Here, McAuliffe rides past the New Hampshire State House in Concord with her daughter Caroline and son Scott, during a Lions Club parade on July 21, 1985. (Jim Cole / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation Packing for Houston High-school teacher Christa McAuliffe folds her training uniform as she packs for the trip to Johnson Space Center in Houston on Sept. 8, 1985. (Jim Cole / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation Advertise Preparing Challenger The space shuttle Challenger is transferred to the high bay of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 17, 1985. Inside the cavernous VAB, the Challenger orbiter was mated with its solid rocket boosters and external tank in preparation for its launch a month later. (Terry Renna / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation Zero-G and she feels fine Christa McAuliffe gets a preview of microgravity on NASA's specially equipped KC-135 "zero gravity" aircraft on Jan. 13, 1986. The plane flies in a parabolic pattern that provides short periods of weightlessness.

For some people, those bouts of zero-G can induce nausea - which is why the airplane was nicknamed the "Vomit Comet." (Science & Society Picture Library / Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation To the launch pad The shuttle Challenger is delivered to its launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center atop a mobile crawler-transporter. (NASA) Share Back to slideshow navigation Practicing for an escape Challenger's crew members practice the procedure for escaping from the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center using slide wire baskets. From left are Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe. Directly behind them are astronauts Judy Resnik and Ellison Onizuka. The basket system was designed to take the astronauts off the pad quickly if an emergency arose just before launch. (NASA Headquarters) Share Back to slideshow navigation Ready for flight Challenger's crew members stand in the White Room at Launch Pad 39B after a dress rehearsal for launch. From left are Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judy Resnik, commander Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, pilot Michael Smith and Ellison Onizuka. (NASA Headquarters) Share Back to slideshow navigation Heading for the pad Challenger's crew members leave their quarters at Kennedy Space Center for the launch pad on Jan.

27, 1986. Commander Dick Scobee is at the front of the line, followed by Judy Resnick, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe and pilot Michael Smith. NASA had to scrub the launch attempt on Jan. 27, due to high winds at the pad, and liftoff was rescheduled for Jan. 28. (Steve Helber / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation The first sign of trouble A launch-pad camera captures a close-up view of the shuttle Challenger's liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986. From this camera position, a cloud of gray-brown smoke can be seen on the right side of the solid rocket booster, directly across from the letter "U" in "United States" on the orbiter. This was the first visible sign that a breach in the booster's joint may have occurred. Investigators determined that frigid overnight temperatures caused the booster joints' normally pliable rubber O-ring seals to become hard and non-flexible. The failure of the seals caused hot exhaust gases to blow through the joints, cutting into the external fuel tank.

(NASA Headquarters) Share Back to slideshow navigation Related story Chapter 1: A chill at the Cape Liftoff! A wide-angle view shows the ascent of the shuttle Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986. In the seconds after ignition, the rocket engines' hot blast began the process of destruction. (NASA Headquarters) Share Back to slideshow navigation Ice at the pad Why did the O-rings fail? On the day of the shuttle Challenger's launch, icicles draped structures at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The unusually cold weather, beyond the tolerances for which the rubber seals were approved, most likely caused the O-ring failure. (NASA Headquarters) Share Back to slideshow navigation Advertise Watching the launch Classmates of the son of America's first teacher-astronaut cheer as the space shuttle Challenger lifts skyward from Launch Pad 39B on Jan. 28, 1986. Their delight turned to horror as the shuttle exploded 73 seconds into flight. The boy in the white hat and glasses at center is Peter Billingsley, the star of "A Christmas Story" and a spokesman for the young astronaut program.

(Jim Cole / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation The final seconds The right solid rocket booster on the shuttle Challenger begins to explode, just a little more than a minute into the shuttle's ascent from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 28, 1986. (NASA via AFP-Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation Moment of tragedy An orange fireball marks the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986. (Bruce Weaver / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation Remains of the rockets At about 76 seconds, fragments of the orbiter can be seen tumbling against a background of fire, smoke and vaporized propellants from Challenger's external fuel tank. The left solid rocket booster is still shooting skyward. A reddish-brown cloud envelops the disintegrating orbiter. The color is indicative of the nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer propellant in the orbiter's reaction control system. (NASA Headquarters) Share Back to slideshow navigation Advertise Flying fragments This picture, released by the presidential commission that investigated the Challenger tragedy, shows fragments of the orbiter flying away from the explosion on Jan.

28, 1986, 78 seconds after liftoff. The top arrow shows the orbiter's left wing. The center arrow shows the orbiter's main engine; and the bottom arrow shows the orbiter's forward fuselage. Investigators suggested that some of Challenger's crew members may have survived the explosion itself but died in the fall down to Earth. (AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation Advertise The tragedy sinks in Flight director Jay Greene studies data at his console inside Johnson Space Center's Mission Control Center in Texas, just minutes after the announcement that Challenger's ascent was not nominal. (NASA) Share Back to slideshow navigation A family's sorrow Members of teacher-astronaut Christa McAuliffe's family react shortly after the failed liftoff of the space shuttle Challenger from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 28, 1986. Christa's sister, Betsy, is in front, with parents Grace and Ed Corrigan behind.

(Jim Cole / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation Advertise Death of a celebration Carina Dolcino, senior class president at Concord High School, is stunned by the news that the space shuttle carrying Christa McAuliffe, one of the school's teachers, exploded after launch on Jan. 28, 1986. Students watched the launch on television sets scattered throughout the school in Concord, N.H., and a celebration had been planned for a successful liftoff. (Ken Williams / Concord Monitor via AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation Advertise White House watch President Ronald Reagan, center, is surrounded by members of his senior staff on Feb. 3, 1986, as he watches a TV replay of the Challenger shuttle explosion at the White House. From left are Larry Speakes, deputy White House press secretary; presidential assistant Dennis Thomas; special assistant Jim Kuhn; Reagan; White House communications director Patrick Buchanan; and chief of staff Donald Regan. (Peter Souza / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation Sympathy at school Lisa Mitten of Concord, N.H., wipes tears from her eyes as her daughter Jessica reads some of the letters of sympathy that were on display at Concord High School on Feb.

1, 1986. Hundreds of Concord residents visited the school library to see the many telegrams and letters that were sent from all over the United States. (Toby Talbot / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation Recovering debris Debris from the ill-fated shuttle Challenger is unloaded from the Coast Guard cutter Dallas during February 1986. (AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation A piece of Challenger For weeks after the accident, search and recovery teams went out to retrieve Challenger debris from the Atlantic Ocean, with the help of the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy. Vessels brought pieces of debris to the Trident Basin at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, from which they were shipped to Kennedy Space Center for investigation. The Coast Guard cutter Dallas transported this fragment of exterior tiling. (NASA Headquarters) Share Back to slideshow navigation Advertise Retrieved from the ocean A piece of debris from the space shuttle Challenger is hoisted onto the deck of the Stena Workhorse off the coast of Florida during a recovery mission.

(Time & Life Pictures via Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation Farewell to the fallen The remains of the shuttle Challenger's seven crew members are transferred from seven hearses to a MAC C-141 transport plane at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, for transport to Dover Air Force Base, Del. (NASA Headquarters) Share Back to slideshow navigation In memoriam President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, stand with the wife of astronaut Michael Smith and other family members at a memorial service for the victims of the Challenger disaster. (Diana Walker / Time & Life Pictures via Getty Image) Share Back to slideshow navigation Grim investigation Apollo 11 moonwalker Neil Armstrong, a member of the presidential panel investigating the Challenger explosion, listens to testimony before the commission in Washington on Feb. 11, 1986. Another commission member, David Acheson, listens in the background. A model of the space shuttle sits on the table. (Scott Stewart / AP) Share Back to slideshow navigation Advertise Solving the puzzle Search and recovery teams located pieces of both the left and right sidewall of the shuttle Challenger during the months-long retrieval effort that followed the explosion on Jan. 28, 1986.

Heat and fire damage scarred the right sidewall. But the left sidewall, depicted here, escaped the flames and suffered only from overload fractures and deep gouge marks. The largest intact piece formed part of the payload bay sidewall and measured approximately 30 by 12 feet. (NASA Headquarters) Share Back to slideshow navigation Washed ashore Some pieces of the shuttle Challenger did not surface until long after the explosion. A tractor carries one of the shuttle's elevons after it washed ashore on Cocoa Beach, Fla., on Dec. 17, 1996 ... almost 11 years after the loss of Challenger and its crew. (AFP-Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation Day of remembrance Every January, NASA recalls the Challenger explosion as well as other space tragedies on a "Day of Remembrance." Here, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe lays a wreath at the Space Shuttle Challenger Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Jan. 28, 2003. O'Keefe also paid tribute to the three astronauts of Apollo 1 who died in a launch pad fire on Jan. 27, 1967.

Sadly, seven more astronauts died just days after this picture was taken, on Feb. 1, 2003, when the shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry. (Bill Ingalls / NASA via Getty Images) Share Back to slideshow navigation Editor's note: This image contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing. Click to view the image, or use the buttons above to navigate away. This image contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing. Click to view the image, or use the buttons above to navigate away. This image contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing. Click to view the image, or use the buttons above to navigate away. Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster - AeroSpaceGuide.net AeroSpaceGuide.net Tweet on Twitter The first Space Shuttle Disaster was Challenger which was lost during an explosion as it took off from Cape Canaveral on January 28, 1986, killing all seven people on board. NASA suspended shuttle flights for two years. The Space Shuttle Challenger Mission (Flight STS-51L) was the 25th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

It was launched from Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:38am EST. This mission was highly publicized because it was the first time a school teacher was allowed to travel in space. Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher from New Hampshire was to be the the first civilian in space. She was selected from more than 11,000 applicants. The crew of Space Shuttle Challenger consisted of 7 astronauts: – Francis R. Scobee – Mission Commander – Michael J. Smith – Pilot – Christa McAuliffe – Payload Specialist 2 – Judith A. Resnik – Mission Specialist 1 – Ellison S. Onizuka – Mission Specialist 2 – Ronald E. McNair – Mission Specialist 3 The Challenger cargo included two satellites in the cargo bay and equipment in the crew compartment for experiments that would be carried out during the mission. The payloads flown on Space Shuttle Challenger Mission 51-L included: – Tracking Data Relay Satellite-2 (TDRS-2): a NASA communications satellite that was to have been placed in a geosynchronous orbit with the aid of a booster called the Inertial Upper Stage.

The satellite would have supported communications with the Space Shuttle and up to 23 other spacecraft. – Spartan satellite that would be deployed into orbit carrying special instruments for the observation of Halley’s Comet.Spartan satellite was to have been deployed into low Earth orbit using the remote manipulator system. Halley’s Comet Experiment Deployable, a free-flying module designed to observe tail and coma of Halleys comet with two ultraviolet spectrometers and two cameras. Space Shuttle Challenger Mission 51 L History Shuttle Mission 51-L was originally scheduled for July, 1985. The astronaut crew were assigned in January 1985, however, the launch was rescheduled to late November 1985 due to changes in payloads. The November launch date slipped due to delays. The launch was re-scheduled for January 22, however, the date slipped to January 23, then January 24, due to delays in mission 61-C. Launch was reset for January 25 because of bad weather at the transoceanic abort landing (TAL) site in Dakar, Senegal.

To utilize Casablanca (not equipped for night landings) as alternate TAL site, T-zero was moved to a morning lift-off time. The launch was postponed another day when launch processing was unable to meet the new morning lift-off time. Prediction of unacceptable weather at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) led to the launch being rescheduled for 9:37 a.m. EST, January 27. The launch was delayed 24 hours again when the ground servicing equipment hatch closing fixture could not be removed from the orbiter hatch. The fixture was sawed off and an attaching bolt drilled out before closeout was completed. During the delay, cross winds exceeded return-to-launch-site limits at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility. The launch on January 28 was delayed two hours when a hardware interface module in the launch processing system, which monitors the fire detection system, failed during liquid hydrogen tanking procedures. After several launch delays, NASA officials overruled the concerns of the engineers and ordered a lift off on a cold morning, at 11:38:00 a.m. EST on January 28, 1986 . The mission ended in tragedy.

Challenger disintegrated into a ball of fire. The accident occurred 73 seconds into flight, at an altitude of 46,000 feet (14, 020 meters) and at about twice the speed of sound. Cause of the Disaster The main cause of the explosion was the failure of the aft joint seal in the right SRB due to the cold weather. A combustion gas leak through the right Solid Rocket Motor aft field joint initiated at or shortly after ignition eventually weakened and/or penetrated the External Tank initiating vehicle structural break-up and loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger during STS Mission 51-L. Orbiter Did not explode Challenger itself did not explode, but various structural failures caused the orbiter to break apart. Although the Challenger disintegrated almost without warning, the crew may have briefly been aware that something was wrong. The crew cabin tore lose from the rest of the shuttle and soared through the air. It took almost three minutes for the cabin to fall into the Atlantic Ocean, where it smashed on impact, killing the seven crew members. Space Shuttle SRB’s A full year before Challenger was launched, a major fault was discovered in the design of the solid rocket boosters – the SRB’s.

These 2 immensely powerful rockets are strapped to the side of the External Tank and accelerate the shuttle clear of the Earth’s atmosphere. 2 minutes after launch, the SRB’s release from the Shuttle, dropping to the ocean and are collected for reuse. The SRB’s were built for NASA by a contractor, Morton Thiokol, Inc. Shuttle Aftermath All shuttle missions were halted while a special commission appointed by President Reagan determined the cause of the accident and what could be done to prevent such disasters from happening again. It was headed by former secretary of state William Rogers the commission included former astronaut Neil Armstrong and former test pilot Chuck Yeager. Shuttle Investigation In June 1986, the commission reported that the accident was caused by a failure of O rings in the shuttle’s right solid rocket booster. These rubber rings sealed the joint between the two lower segments of the booster. Design flaws in the joint and unusually cold weather during the launch caused the O rings to allow hot gases to leak out of the booster through the joint. Flames from within the booster streamed past the failed seal and quickly expanded the small hole. The flaming gases then burned a hole in the shuttle’s external fuel tank.

The flames also cut away one of the supporting beams that held the booster to the side of the external tank. The booster tore loose and ruptured the tank. The propellants from the tank formed a giant fireball as structural failures tore the vehicle apart. The commission said NASA’s decision to launch the shuttle was flawed. Top level decision makers had not been informed of problems with the joints and O rings or the possible damaging effects of cold weather. The Commission also concluded that there was a serious flaw in the decision making process leading up to the launch of flight 51-L. Shuttle Modifications Shuttle designers made several technical modifications, including an improved O ring design and the addition of a crew bail-out system. Although such a system would not work in all cases, it could save lives of shuttle crew members in certain situations. Procedural changes included stricter safety reviews and more restrictive launching conditions. Shuttle resumes flight The entire space shuttle program was grounded during the commission’s investigation and did not resume flying until shuttle designers made several technical modifications and NASA management implemented stricter regulations regarding quality control and safety. The space shuttle resumed flying on September 29, 1988 with the launch of the redesigned shuttle Discovery on STS-26 mission.

In 1991, the shuttle Endeavour joined the fleet to replace the Challenger, again bringing the number of ships to four. Did you know? * Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster occurred in 2003 and was the second tragedy. * Barbara Morgan was the backup ‘Teacher in Space’ for this mission. She flew her first mission in 2007 on STS-118 . Related: Special Report: Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster - 25 Years Later January 28, 2011 02:12pm ET MORE On Jan. 28, 1986, NASA faced its first shuttle disaster, the loss of the Challenger orbiter and its seven-astronaut crew. Here, Challenger's last crew – members of the STS-51L mission – stand in the White Room at Pad 39B following the end of a launch dress rehearsal. They are (L to R) Teacher in Space Participant, Sharon "Christa" McAuliffe, Payload Specialist, Gregory Jarvis, Mission Specialist, Judy Resnik, Commander Dick Scobee. Mission Specialist, Ronald McNair, Pilot, Michael Smith and Mission Specialist, Ellison Onizuka.

Credit: NASA Twenty-five years ago today, NASA's space shuttle Challenger exploded and broke apart just after liftoff, killing seven astronauts – including civilian teacher Christa McAuliffe – in one of the worst space disasters in U.S. history. The 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster was NASA's first public spaceflight failure and second fatal spaceflight failure. Every year at this time, NASA remembers the Challenger crew, as well as the seven astronauts killed on the shuttle Columbia during re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003, and three Apollo 1 astronauts who died in a pad fire aboard their capsule on Jan. 27, 1967. Challenger's ill-fated flight , STS-51L, gained wide attention because of the presence of New Hampshire high school teacher Christa McAuliffe on the shuttle's crew as NASA's first Teacher in Space. She was joined by Challenger mission commander Richard "Dick" Scobee, pilot Michael J. Smith, mission specialists Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik and payload specialist Gregory Jarvis. Here's a look at the Challenger space shuttle disaster, why it happened and its impact now 25 years later: Friday, Jan.

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Question: In which year did the Space Shuttle Challenger crash?
Answer: 1986